As you may or may not know, I have Crohn's disease; a real "crappy" stomach disorder. In general, my body has a hard time digesting food, absorbing nutrients/minerals and maintaining healthy living. My weight fluctuates at random, I've lost 7 pounds this past week, and problems with my complexion in a constant issue too, not awesome for a 30-year old woman! I also have what they call 'extra-intestinal manifestations'. These present themselves as edema, eyrthma nedosm, anemia, acne and could have been the cause of my kidney stone a couple months ago.
So, now that that's all explained...I have decided, finally, to treat myself with holistic, natural remedies. I was on 16 pills a day at one point, steriods that made me puffy and antibiotics that made me even more sick. Needless to say, I'm done with whatever drug my doctors are going to push at me! I have an MRI, ultrasound and 4 doctors to see in the next 2 months so I can't wait until I tell them that!
I have done a lot of research and reading into different natural medications that help different aspects of Crohn's and related stomach ailments. I've found a wide amount of options, which is so exciting! I've decided to start with aloe vera juice which helps heal stomach lesions from the inside out and also benefits skin complexion and hydration issues. I have also started taking B12 injections to up my B12 levels, which are drastically low causing some major fatigue and edema issues. Next thing I'd like to try if these work well for me might be something called Goldenseal capsules which directly aid in repairing intestinal problems.
Of course, medication alone is not going to help reverse my symptoms of Crohn's. I've altered my diet by eliminating red meat, pork, excess ruffage, refined sugars, deep-fried foods, alcohol, caffiene, sweets and blah, blah, blah....there's a lot of things I've changed and even things that I've added! I've also decided to suck it up and get back to some serious exercising regardless of how much it may hurt! I am doing some serious stretching in the mornings and evenings, trying to run 3 times a week and continuing with my weight training and stability work. I'm also going to get more involved again with yoga and back to meditation.
I've noticed over the past three weeks that my health has taken a downhill slide. It's been since I've gotten back from my trip to Miami and Bahamas, actually! My attitude has also taken that slide too. I used to be a person that can take almost anything and work through it. I even said that a week ago! Now, I feel like I am falling apart a little more each day which is not going to help my stress level and that always affects my Crohn's! I need to get back to focusing on myself and my health to ensure that I don't fall into the negativity and ill health again.
So there we are, another blurb about my life and the thing that makes me who I am. I've learned that I can't escape Crohn's and that I'm going to have to deal with it for the rest of my life. This disease has defined who I am for over 12 years now and I've got a lot more living to do! If I don't start really taking care of myself from the inside and out, both mentally and physically, I'm not sure how long my body's going to last!
If anyone else has any advice or suggestions, I am a sponge! Help me out, I can use anything you've got!
I think I might be blogging about this for a little while, I find that this helps me get my brain straight and work out some issues...who knew "talking" to my laptop could do such a thing?! :)
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